Animal activists grow impatient with city over shelter evaluations

By Christie Chisholm

It's our anniversary. No, I'm not talking about the Tricentennial. I'm talking about a much quieter and unnoticed passage of time. It's been five years since the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) came to our city to evaluate the Albuquerque Animal Care Center (formerly known as the Albuquerque Animal Services Division) and found widespread instances of animal cruelty at both of the city's animal shelters. After that visit, evaluators laid forth a hefty set of recommendations and since then the city has continually promised to bring them back for a reevaluation. Five years later, they still haven't returned, and local animal rights activists say that conditions at the shelters haven't improved much, despite political promises to the contrary.

Published in 1949, George Orwell's novel 1984 follows the life of Winston Smith, who lives in London, a city in the country of Oceania, and works for his government's Ministry of Truth. A sense of twisted harmony exists in this fictional world. The other national offices in Oceania are Ministry of Peace (concerned with war), Ministry of Love (concerned with law and order), and the Ministry of Plenty (department of economic affairs).

"I've brought you all together," the famous British detective said, glancing meaningfully around Mayor Marty Chavez's conference room, "because I believe I've come to the end of my, ahem, investigation into the missing evidence."

Dateline: Romania—A young nun has died after being bound to a cross, gagged and left alone for three days in a cold room by several other nuns and a priest at her convent. Police say members of the convent in Northeastern Romania claim Maricica Irina Cornici was possessed by evil spirits and that the crucifixion had been part of an exorcism ritual. According to the BBC News, the 23-year-old nun was denied food and water throughout her ordeal, had been tied and chained to the cross and had a towel shoved in her mouth. A postmortem is to be carried out, although initial reports say that Cornici died from asphyxiation. A priest and four nuns have been charged with imprisonment leading to death. The priest, Father Daniel, is accused of orchestrating the crime, but remained unrepentant in the local media. “I don't understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this,” the AFP news agency quoted Father Daniel as saying. “God has performed a miracle for her. Finally Irina is delivered from evil.”